Wrench.



No. 636,230. Patented Oct. 3|, I899. M. L..KEAGLE.

WRENCH.

. (Application filed. Mar. 11, 1899.) (No l'llodl.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT MARTIN L. KEAGLE, OF PARSONS, WEST VIRGINIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO THOMAS B. GOULD, OF SAME PLACE.

WRENCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 636,230, dated October 31, 1899.

' Application filed March 11, 1899.

To all whom it nuty concern:

Be it known that I, MARTIN L. KEAGLE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Parsons, in the county of Tucker and State of WVest Virginia, have invented a newand use ful Improvement in Screw-Wrenches; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawro ings.

This invention relates to that general class of devices which are called screw-wrenches because they are used to turn screw bolts and nuts, but not to the class of wrenches which I 5 are provided with screws to set the movable jaw ready for work.

The object of the invention is to provide simple and effective means for quickly securing the movable jaw of a wrench, vise, or

clamp in position for work and for unfastening the jaw to release the wrench from the object held.

To this end my invention consists in the construction and combination of parts form- 2 5 ing a screw wrench or clamp hereinafter more fully described, and particularly pointed out in the claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure I represents in side elevation a 0 wrench according to my invention. Fig. II is an end.view of a clamp according to the same invention. Fig. III is a transverse vertical section at the line 3 of Fig. I. Fig. IV is a detail View of the binding-cam and a por- 3 5 tion of the brace-bar.

5 represents the body of the wrench, provided with the usual integral head 6, which is the fixed jaw.

7 is the movable jaw, fitted to slide freely upon the body 5, which passes directly through 8 represents teeth made by cutting notches into the body on the face or working side thereof.

9 represents the brace-bar, made integral with or rigidly secured to the movable jaw 7 to bear and slide upon the face of the bar 5 and provided with a few teeth 10, projecting below its face to engage with the teeth 8 of the bar. The jaw 7 is internally shaped to swarm. 708,701. (No model.)

bear easily upon the back of the bar for a short distance from its working face 18-say to the point 11-but from 11 to the back of the'jaw the opening for the bar is enlarged, as represented by the dotted line 12, to permit the brace-teeth 8 to be raised out of en gagement with the body-teeth 10, as shown by dotted lines 14, to set the jaw 7 free to be slid forward or backward.

15 is a yoke fitted to slide freely against the back and sides of the body 5, but open at the upper side to receive a cam 16, which is journaled upon a pin 17 and provided with a handle 18. This cam is eccentric upon its. pin, and when thrown forward, as shown in dotted lines 19, it permits the brace 9 to be raised; but when pressed backward it forces the brace down to the body 5, holding the teeth 8 in rigid engagement with teeth 10. 20 represents other holes in the yoke 15 nearer to the brace 9 to serve as bearings for the pin 17 in case the cam 16 ever becomes so worn as to require readjustment.

21 represents a shoe of the yoke 15 for the purpose of extending the bearing thereof upon the back of the body 5. This shoe may be integral with or permanently attached to the yoke; but the invention is not dependent upon its use. The yoke 15 is kept in place to move along with the jaw 7 by means of a pin or trunnions 22, projecting from the sides of the brace into slots 23 in the two sides of the yoke. The slot permits the brace to rise and fall in disengaging and reengaging the body-teeth. It also permits entire freedom of the yoke to slide upon the body when the cam is thrown forward. The yoke being entirely free and independent of the jaw 7 and its brace 9 may be Very economically made, and its removal permits the teeth 10 to be easily formed on the brace and integral therewith directly under the bearing-point of the cam 16.

In operation the camis to be set forward and then the brace 9 is to be raised by pressing 5 forward against the jaw 7 near its outer end until the jaw rests against the piece to be held. Then by pressing the cam firmly back the brace is forced down and its teeth are held in engagement with the teeth of the body. I00

All the pressure in service being against the jaw above the body tends to hold the brace in engagement, so that the cam has little more to do than to keep the brace so engaged when the wrench is being moved about.

To further steady the brace and keep the teeth normally in engagement, I provide a spring 25, which is secured at one end 26 to the brace, while its other or free end bears against the working face of the cam. In quick light work this spring will keep the brace engaged without the cam being set, and in some kinds of wrenches I may dispense with the cam and arrange the spring to act directly between the brace and the pin 17 to hold the teeth engaged. The cam, the spring, and the brace are so arranged that when the cam is set it holds the spring tight down upon the brace, the spring serving as a shoe for the cam. Backward pressure upon the upper end of jaw '7, as in service, tends to raise that jaw away from the body; but this movement is resisted by the short bearing in front of point 11 of the jaw against the back of the body, and the rising of the brace 9 to disengage the teeth necessitates the slant 12 in the back of the free jaw 7. The brace has a long free end 2; without teeth extending back as a shield to the body-teeth when the jaws are nearly closed. As the pressure in service tends always to close the two sets of teeth together, very fine teeth may be used on small wrenches, enabling as close adjustment of the jaw as the service ofa wrench requires.

The advantages of this wrench are its simplicity and consequent cheapness of construction, its strength and durability, and the ease and rapidity with which it may be set or adjusted for service.

This whole description applies also to the clamp shown in Fig. II, and the only difference is that the body 5 is generally much longer than that of a wrench for the purpose of holding wide boards to be glued, &c., and some of the parts of the same may be made of wood.

Having thus fully described my invention,

what I believe to be new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is the following:

1. In wrenches or clamps, a body portion having a stationary head, and provided with teeth along its working face; a jaw fitted to slide upon the body and having a rearwardextending brace with teeth projecting from its sliding face to engage the teeth of the body; a yoke hung freely upon the brace and around the body to slide with the former upon the latter and a cam provided with a handle and pivoted to rotate in the yoke to engage the brace substantially as described.

2. A wrench or clamp body having teeth along one side; a jaw fitted to slide on the body and having a rigid brace with teeth projecting to engage the teeth of the body; the interior fit of the jaw upon the body having its side opposite to the brace slanted to open in the direction of the brace; a yoke surrounding three sides of the body and slotted to hang freely on pins upon the brace, and a cam provided with a handle and pivoted to rotate in the yoke to engage the brace, substantially as described.

3. In a wrench having a toothed body and a sliding jaw with atoothed brace of the character described; a yoke slotted to hang freely upon pins on the brace for transverse movement, and a cam hung in the yoke to produce such transverse movement and bind the said brace and body together, substantially as described.

4. A wrench or clamp body having teeth along one side; a jaw fitted to slide upon the body and provided with a toothed brace to engage the said teeth on the body; a yoke freely hung to the brace and partly surrounding the body; cam pivoted in the yoke, and

a spring interposed between the cam and brace, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

MARTIN L. KEAGLE.

Witnesses:

GEORGE HAPWooD, HENRY J. GOFF. 

